Basketball and Beyond: Week 5

Feb 23, 2010

Each
week for the rest of the season, senior James Feldeine will
chronicle his experiences with the Quinnipiac men's basketball
team.

Let me start
off saying that we didn't look past St. Francis (Pa.); we just
didn't play well in the second half. They came out with more energy
and more toughness than us and we couldn't shake them off. After
the game, I could tell everyone was mad about losing the game and
probably staying out the hunt for the number one seed. We had that
bad taste in our mouths again and wanted to get it out right away.
Coach Moore told us that every time we had our backs against the
wall, we came out with one of our best performances the next game.
I was really confident my team would play tougher and with more
energy against Robert Morris. We got to Pittsburgh a few hours
after the game and no one wanted to say a word to each other. We
all knew we let each other down with that performance. The truth
was I was mad about the game, but I knew my team was going to bring
it the next day in practice and during the game. I really was not
stressing the loss because we were still in the hunt for first
place, but we needed to beat Robert Morris. This was going to be
the biggest test for the team and, in the back of my head, I had
faith.

The next day
was a rough day for my team and me. Everyone was still upset about
the loss and worried about practice. We always have an intense
practice after a loss, but what team in the country doesn't? After
watching film from the St. Francis (Pa.) game, we all knew what we
did wrong and had to fix it in less than six hours for practice.
When practice finally came around, we all came out with energy and
toughness. We knew that was the time we were going to win the game.
When we have a great practice the day before a game, we usually win
(you can tell by our record that we have a lot of great practices).
After practice, everyone was back to normal because we knew we put
in the work that was needed to win.

While I was
warming up, I looked around and saw my teammates were ready to
fight this battle as a team. We were not going to let each other
down this time. I remember someone saying "Those dudes think they
got it already." That gave us something to prove, because they had
to beat us before they could become regular season champs. We came
out with so much energy because we knew we had to hit them first
before they hit us. After the first hit, we never looked back and
won the game by eight. This was a great win for us because it keeps
us in the hunt for that number one spot. It makes them have to win
their last two regular season games, and the last one is at Mount
St. Mary's, a place where we lost a few weeks ago and we know that
is not an easy place to win. Hopefully, next time I write this
blog, we've taken care of business in our last two games and we are
the regular season champs - with a little help from the Mount.